it as successful as possible. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> all right. and please consider me one of "us". >> thank you very much. and bona tale. i asked senator leno how do you think they say happy chanukkah in italian? and he said mozel tough and i am glad to be here and i am proud to be an italian american and it's been an important part of my identity. i believe i have the soul in my heart.

[applause] . so there you are. and i remember my grandfather saying when he came over on the boat he was told the streets of america were paved with gold and found out there were no streets and he had to do the paving, and i think the strongest part of our culture is "the family". we may have our dysfunctions but our families never dessert us and my family didn't know much with the lgbt issue so when i came out of the closet i thought they would be so upset i would lose them. wouldn't happen. once my son had a sign that said "i love my gay son that never calls" and that is it and i want to

welcome the counsel general and his partner and actually we share a vice, and it's called napoli. i think i can say it right. (. [speaking foreign language] . we don't want you to do that but want to work out programs to share our fabulous culture and again thank you. [applause] >> hello. i am honored. i am david chiu president of the board of supervisors. i fall in a long line of succession of italian presidents at the board of supervisors. i am here honored to be supporting our board and my colleague scott wiener and representing the oldest italian neighborhood here on the west coast and i know

you have heard from leno and amaino i want you to know my italian friends introduce me as david chiu o. 20 years ago like every elected that didn't grow up in san francisco and i know we are all from different areas i came here 20 years ago from the east coast and in part i was fascinated by chinatown and it's next to the old italian neighborhood of north beach and in the great cities like boston et cetera and when i walked around that neighborhood it was the neighborhood that drew me to the great city whether being reminded of great baseball players, the joe migage i don't play ground. >> >> or the fisherman or the

piazza that i look forward to work with angela to lobby the mayor to adequately fund it. there are special quarters that come from the community that are represented tonight and i am happy to come and raise a glass to all of you and look forward to cel celebrating the italian. >> american history. thank you. >> good evening. i am verna patty. i am coming from congresswoman pelosi's office. she is celebrating in washington dc the italian culture with the minister. "dr. friends greetings as you. >> >> gather in san francisco to celebrate italian culture in the united states. thank you for

the opportunity to join so many friends, guests and dignitaries with fellow italian americans to bring the celebrations. the celebration is more of a celebration in art and music, fashion and design, literature and architecture. it is reaffirmation of the enduring bonds between the united states and italy and tribute to our history as partners and allies and marker of our shared value and heritage. our ties are embedded in the very root of the american story. america is discovered by the italians and named by an italian and built by thousands of italians and our community representing literally millions of bridges between the countries. through research

and innovation italy will remain a bafton of creativity and beautiful. may our common history and sustained by our common values and common faith in the future continue to grow and flourish. with warmest regards, nancy pelosi". thank you very much. [applause] >> so mayor lee, senator leno, state assembly member and leaders and ladies and gentlemen. it's a real honor for me to celebrate with you today the start of the italian culture in the united states. nancy pelosi was with our foreign minister in washington dc, but san francisco is the

first major city after washington dc that follows suit, that follows washington dc, so again a little like the giants that want to be number one. today is december, 12, 2012 which is 12-12-12. kind of scary. i would like to quote rem. "it's the end of the world as we know it but we're just fine". we are just fine because we're beginning really 12 months that will be exciting and fun for all of us. as you all have mentioned italians have made a lasting contributions in building this city, and in making what it is, the city that is international, innovative and open. it's difficult to name names but let me mention angela rosy and judge misconnie and in city hall and in the hearts and

minds of san franciscans. let me mention ap geny and found an important bank and the inventor what we call the micro credit and helped the city recover from the big earthquake of 1906. guy mo roller who was the founder, established the opera in san francisco, by the way there's an italian directing the opera and laurence fergetty and 93 and good friend of the community. he is the father of the b generations and the guy that started the culture revolution of the 60's and 70's so in many ways italians have made lasting contribution to this city and

the silicon valley. there is an important engineer that developed the first micro prosser for intel, so it's a tremendous foundation to celebrate italian culture 2013. also i was reminded by our pastors that san francisco gets its name from an italian man and holly man. it is noted. >> >> for kindness and compassion and generosity and i think these are traits that this city has adopted and made its own traits , so this is not to be under scored, not to be forgotten. what are we going to do in the coming year? basically we have three principles, three guidelines. we want to show beauty and arts. i guess beauty and harmony everyone associates

and italy. we want to bring a large paint to san francisco. we want san franciscans to enjoy great art. we would like the theater of naples play with san francisco. it will be200 year of his birth and we want it to be a special moment and the san francisco bay and the other guiding principle is sustainability and also of lifestyle. we are proud to say in a way italy has shaped global life with our consumer goods, fashion, sports car, coffee, also our industrial design, so we will bring for example jewelry from a heritage

collection to san francisco. we will have liz tailors jewels exhibited here in the city. we will have of course food -- especially we like the slow food philosophy. we will highlight the achievements in the education system and especiallied connected to the experience of a woman like maria montessori. the third principle is innovation and technology. when i say italy everybody will think of the arts and music. they don't think of technology yet we want to persuade you there are lots of things to be discovered. i was working in the world of energy and there i think we have taken enormous steps in the direction of a modern sustainable green economy, what we call now distributed generations of

people producing and consuming energy. this is happening at an incredible pace in california and i know california like this is and we want to connect with california. some of the events will require the supports of the leaders that are here present, the leaders of the italian american associations. i am very proud to say that all of the leaders of the italian american associations are gathered today, mr. mayor, and senator assembly man and board of supervisors is here to celebrate with us and ramona blackwell who with the committee of the italians abroad and elected body and we will need your support and it's not just top down but bottom up. we're are open to your ideas and suggestions. we want it to a great celebration and people are in charge and in power and they will also run the show. that's our objective. by the way also

have guests from outside california and salt lake city -- i don't know where he is because i can't see anything with the lights. there he is. thank you mike for being with us. we will celebrate also in other cities. definitely i know that with your passion, your pride, and the support of the city and county of san francisco, of the state of california, and hopefully of the house of representatives we will be able to create new opportunities to be together and above all to have fun in celebrating the greatness of italian culture in the united states. thank you very much and enjoy with us. thank you.

[applause] >> yeah. angela is asking me to mention that we're going to gather at 6:30 p.m. on montgomery street, 814 montgomery street. we will have jazz, opera, good slow food and opportunity for all of us to mingle and have a good time. i wonder if there is someone in the press that is following us if they want to ask questions? please. >> [inaudible] you mentioned sustainability. do you define italy as a green country and what do those efforts mean for san francisco.

>> yes, definitely. i see that. i am happy while being in san francisco there is such an amazing attention to the environment. people are very environment conscious and i see community aggregations also to have renewable energy. it makes me very happy because in italy we have been following this path for a very long time. for example in the first six months of this year we installed photovoltaic panels larger than the united states all put together. it shows you the extent of the revolution happening. i am sure italian companies will be happy to work with the local institutions that have started to generate projects that will somehow go in that direction, and also we want to have parties and

communication activities to show the people in the street that it is important to have sustainable behaviors and not to leave a carbon footprint behind us. >> [inaudible] >> yeah, if i understand correctly because -- you said about the innovation -- if we? >> [inaudible] >> yeah, okay. well, we're going to have in the museum of computer science in mountain view an exhibition show casing what italians have done to create silicon valley. i mentioned one person but there are many other examples. along

with that we will have a big conference with italian innovators and venture capitalists and along with large hi tech companies of silicon valley and come together and focus on specific projects how to work together for technological innovation. it will be focused on silicon valley but also the cultural institute in san francisco we have surprises for you that we're preparing. any other questions? >> [inaudible] >> yeah. >> [inaudible] the problem of the public -- i would like for you to answer it -- [inaudible]

>> i try not to be technical, but i hope i would be pervasive just telling you the debt crisis is basically a crisis connected to the governments of the euro system that has hit some countries for some reasons. somewhat we were hit because of the sins of our past. we have been having -- we have had a relatively a sizable but stable debt for a long time, but the point is it's very manageable. we are reducing it pretty fast, very fast indeed, and also to reassure the investors if you put together the net household wealth of italians as compared to the debt of the government and the companies the ratio is three to one, so it's a matter of redistribution somehow. italians thanks to god are a

wealtdy people and the matter is how we can put things into order in our household but definitely italy is a major stable solid economy, and once -- already there are signs of strong improvement. once this crisis is over we will definitely flex the muscles. please. >> [inaudible] are you planning show case any important architects and designers in this year of italian culture? >> definitely. i mean in san francisco there's a wonderful san francisco design week, so we will have an italian design week too. we are planning on an exhibition of cultural institute

with major brands of interior design. there's also very nice thing that we're working on. a famous architect has designed the california academy of sciences, the wonderful building in golden gate park. he has also designed similar museum in italy in my city and the museum is almost finished there, and our ambition is to have him come over and celebrate at the academy, and also talk to young architects about the most sustainable ways to build this century. other questions? if there is no other question i thank you so much. thank our distinguished guest for being

here with us and i hope to have a good time with you guys at the italian cultural institute. thank you. [applause] >> what if you could make a memorial that is more about information and you are never fixed and it can go wherever it wants to go? everyone who has donated to it could use it, host it, share it. >> for quite a great deal of

team she was hired in 2005, she struggled with finding the correct and appropriate visual expression. >> it was a bench at one point. it was a darkened room at another point. but the theme always was a theme of how do we call people's attention to the issue of speci species extinction. >> many exhibits do make long detailed explanations about species decline and biology of birds and that is very useful for lots of purposes. but i think it is also important to try to pull at the strings inside people. >> missing is not just about specific extinct or endangered species. it is about absence and a more fundamental level of not knowing what we are losing and we need to link species loss to habitat

loss and really focuses much on the habitat. >> of course the overall mission of the academy has to do with two really fundamental and important questions. one of which is the nature of life. how did we get here? the second is the challenge of sustainability. if we are here how are we going to find a way to stay? these questions resonated very strongly with maya. >> on average a species disappears every 20 minutes. this is the only media work that i have done. i might never do another one because i'm not a media artist per se but i have used the medium because it seemed to be the one that could allow me to convey the sounds and images here. memorials to me are different from artworks. they are artistic, but memorials

have a function. >> it is a beautiful scupltural objective made with bronze and lined with red wood from water tanks in clear lake. that is the scupltural form that gives expression to maya's project. if you think about a cone or a bull horn, they are used to get the attention of the crowd, often to communicate an important message. this project has a very important message and it is about our earth and what we are losing and what we are missing and what we don't even know is gone. >> so, what is missing is starting with an idea of loss, but in a funny way the shape of this cone is, whether you want to call it like the r.c.a. victor dog, it is listen to the earth and what if we could create a portal that could look at the past, the present and the

future? >> you can change what is then missing by changing the software, by changing what is projected and missing. so, missing isn't a static installation. it is an installation that is going to grow and change over time. and she has worked to bring all of this information together from laboratory after laboratory including, fortunately, our great fwroup of researche e-- g researchers at the california academy. >> this couldn't have been more site specific to this place and we think just visually in terms of its scupltural form it really holds its own against the architectural largest and grandeur of the building. it is an unusual compelling object. we think it will draw people out on the terrace, they will see the big cone and say what is that. then as they approach the cone tell hear these very unusual sounds that were obtained from the cornell orinthology lab.

>> we have the largest recording of birds, mammals, frogs and insects and a huge library of videos. so this is an absolutely perfect opportunity for us to team up with a world renown, very creative inspirational artist and put the sounds and sights of the animals that we study into a brand-new context, a context that really allows people to appreciate an esthetic way of the idea that we might live in the world without these sounds or sites. >> in the scientific realm it is shifting baselines. we get used to less and less, diminished expectations of what it was. >> when i came along lobsters six feet long and oysters 12 inches within they days all the oyster beds in new york, manhattan, the harbor would clean the water.

so, just getting people to wake up to what was just literally there 200 years ago, 150 years ago. you see the object and say what is that. you come out and hear these intriguing sounds, sounds like i have never heard in my life. and then you step closer and you almost have a very intimate experience. >> we could link to different institutions around the globe, maybe one per continent, maybe two or three in this country, then once they are all networked, they begin to communicate with one another and share information. in 2010 the website will launch, but it will be what you would call an informational website and then we are going to try to, by 2011, invite people to add a memory. so in a funny way the member rely grows and there is something organic about how this memorial begins to have legs so to speak. so we don't know quite where it

will go but i promise to keep on it 10 years. my goal is to raise awareness and then either protect forests from being cut down or reforest in ways that promote biodiversity. >> biodiverse city often argued to be important for the world's human populations because all of the medicinal plants and uses that we can put to it and fiber that it gives us and food that it gives us. while these are vital and important and worth literally hundreds of billions of dollars, the part that we also have to be able to communicate is the more spiritual sense of how important it is that we get to live side by side with all of these forms that have three billion years of history behind them and how tragic it would be not commercially and not in a utilitarian way but an emotio l

emotional, psychological, spiritual way if we watch them one by one disappear. >> this is sort of a merger between art and science and advocacy in a funny way getting people to wake unand realize what is going on -- wake up and realize what is going on. so it is a memborial trying to get us to interpret history and look to the past. they have always been about lacking at the past so we proceed forward and maybe don't commit the same mistakes.